Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Generosity of a Stranger

About three weekends ago or so, I attended a three day auction. Rarely do I leave the studio or house other than to run errands. But, Rhett talked me into going along with him to this five generation auction. I bought bits and pieces to use in mixed media artwork each day of the auction. Fabrics, paper, books, maps, wooden boxes, game parts, and other treasures. On Saturday, the little bedraggled doll on the left in the above photo was to sell. She was stuffed in a Victorian era chromolithograph Christmas design hinged lid box along with a single leather baby shoe.

As you can see from the photo, I collect old hand made cloth dolls. In the background are the spotted spring sisters whom you have met in a previous posting. In the middle is a lion lounging on a faded velvet pin cushion and on the right is a fellow , also of velvet, holding an acorn sized pin cushion. This vignette is on the stairway in our house.

So, back to the auction. I waited most of the day for the doll to come up to the front of the room. When she did, I asked one of the auction crew if quite possibly the doll could be sold separately from the box. No, the box and doll would be sold together. Big sigh. As I feared, the pair brought far more than I could give. I was a sad little monkey. Keeping an eye on the lady that won the bid, I could not ascertain which piece drew her interest. In a few minutes when all that I was interested had been sold, I moseyed over to her and asked if she was interested in selling the doll. I offered money. She said that she would GIVE me the doll. She wanted the Christmas box.

2 comments:

I so love this story...actually ANY story that demonstrates the 'connectedness' of life...sounds like she was just supposed to be yours...for sure!...and Lynelle got her treasure too!! how cool! I am lovin' your lion....what is his story?

Thanks for liking this story. The lion's story goes like this: Several years ago there was an antique mall in the little town that we live near. My father had a booth in the mall and worked there a day or two a month. One day , he called and said that I needed to come see this old velvet pin cushion lion that had just been brought into a neighbor's booth. I really needed to come now. So, I left my beading project and drove downtown to the mall. In a case was this treasure. Yes, I needed this lion. My birthday is in August and I am a Leo, so am always interested in unusual lion figurines. I have an old Staffordshire lion and a hand painted wooden one from a New Mexico artist. I will post photos of these lions soon.